Lions pick Duke OL Laken Tomlinson in 1st round of NFL Draft

Laken Tomlinson came to Chicago from Jamaica when he was 10 years old.

Thursday night, he returned to the Windy City and became a first-round NFL draft pick.

The Detroit Lions took Tomlinson, a senior offensive guard from Duke, with the 28th overall pick. He is the first Blue Devils played selected in the first round since Cleveland took linebacker Mike Junkin in 1987.

“This journey has bene unbelievable, making it all the way for Jamaica to this very moment, I couldn’t imagine it,” an emotional Tomlinson told Suzy Kolber on ESPN.

Tomlinson, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 330 pounds, started 52 games at right guard for Duke over his four-year career. He was a consensus all-American pick in his senior season, receiving first-time honors from the Associated Press. He performed well at the Senior Bowl in January and began to move into the late first round on some mock drafts leading up to the draft.

This story was originally published April 30, 2015 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Lions pick Duke OL Laken Tomlinson in 1st round of NFL Draft."